Intra-individual associations between intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior during adolescence: Evidence for bidirectionality

Introduction: Couched in Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory and relevant empirical work, this study investigated bidirectional associations between intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers from age 12 to age 18. Method: Participants included 500 adolescents (52% female, 77% European American; age Time 1 = 12 years, Time 2 = 14 years, Time 3 = 16 years, Time 4 = 18 years) from the Northwestern United States. Adolescents self-reported on their intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers across four time points. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RICLPM) was estimated in order to assess bidirectionality while avoiding conflating intra- and inter-individual variability. Results: Results revealed intentional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers were bidirectionally related during early adolescence (i.e., from age 12 to 14). During mid-to-late adolescence (i.e. age 14 to 18), prosocial behavior toward strangers facilitated intentional self-regulation, whereas intentional self-regulation did not drive the development of prosocial behavior toward strangers. Conclusions: Findings indicate that early adolescence may be a particularly plastic developmental period in terms of PYD. Findings also suggest that investigations of relations between adolescents' personal assets and contribution factors merit further scholarly attention. Several directions for future research are presented.